MONROE — The Monroe City Council is looking into allegations that tax revenue estimates presented by city administrator Matt Mardesen to aid the council in its decision to sell Madsen Field to Dollar General Corporation might not have come from the Jasper County Assessor as originally stated.
Mayor Doug Duinink said Wednesday that they're "investigating the incident" and would release more information as it becomes available.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Mardesen maintained his claim that the tax revenue estimates he presented to the city council during the Aug. 8 public hearing came from Jasper County Assessor John Deegan during a May phone call, a claim which Deegan said is false.
The council narrowly approved the sale of Madsen Field in a 3-2 vote during its Aug. 8 regular meeting based in part on property and sales tax revenue estimates Mardesen presented during the public hearing. The mayor waited nearly a week to sign the resolution for the $150,000 sale to Dollar General Corporation.
Mardesen presented a fact sheet, which cites input from Deegan, to the city council stating Monroe would see a combined $21,000 in estimated sales and property tax revenue if the Dollar General is built.
The sheet also claims the PCM School District would see approximately $10,000 in property tax revenue and Jasper County could get an additional $2,000.
The sheet reads: "After getting the projected construction costs from Mr. (Tim) O'Brien (of DG Corporation) and sharing that information with Jasper County Assessor John Deegan, we have established some projected figures based on projected sales and past property/assessed building values of similar projects."
According to an email from O'Brien to Mardesen, the project cost could range between $950,000 to $1.2 million.
The sheet goes on to say property tax projections are based on a $20,000 per year taxable value of the property provided by Deegan.
Deegan said any discussion or phone call with Mardesen on Dollar General would have been a "generic conversation." The assessor was adamant he would not make a tax revenue projection on the proposed Dollar General or any project. As assessor, Deegan said, he only deals in property values and not taxes.
Deegan said with rollbacks, tax abatement programs which vary city to city and differing commercial property tax levy rates between school districts and cities, he would not feel comfortable giving even a rough estimate. In the Dollar General discussion, Deegan said he "wasn't even a player."
“I’ve had many times where people ask me (for projections) and I won’t even give them a ballpark estimate," Deegan said. "There are too many variables and I don’t want to be wrong. I don’t do projections because it’s too hard, especially if you want to give a clear, accurate picture. I work with values, I don’t work with taxes."
Mardesen said he has requested phone records from Jasper County and Windstream to prove the conversation with Deegan took place.
But phone records will only show that a call was placed from Monroe City Hall to Deegan's office, and would not reveal the content of the call or the people on phone line. So, for now, the origin of the tax estimates presented to the city council remains unclear.
Deegan was first appointed Jasper County Assessor in 1986. He began his assessor's career in 1976, as an appraiser for the City of Waterloo, where he would eventually be appointed deputy assessor. He was named "Outstanding Member" at Iowa State Association of Assessors' Annual Conference in 2012.
He is a member of the International Association of Assessing Officers and is accredited as an Iowa certified assessor from the Institute of Iowa Certified Assessors and an accredited senior appraiser from the American Society of Appraisers.
Mardesen earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Simpson College and in 2010, earned a master's degree in public administration from Drake University.
Another question that has surfaced is the accuracy of the sales tax revenue projections Mardesen provided the council. The administrator presented an estimate of $13,000 in annual revenue the city would receive from the store with the 1 percent local option sales tax. The fact sheet also has the State of Iowa receiving roughly $58,500 in sales tax revenue.
This is based on projections from DG Corporation that the Monroe Dollar General would reach $1.3 million in sales per year. But not all items — most notably food — are taxed in the state of Iowa.
When asked if he felt the sales tax revenue estimates were overstated, Mardesen declined to comment.
Councilman Nate Bradbury was one of the two dissenting votes on the Madsen Field sale and publicly encouraged Duinink to veto the measure during the Aug. 8 meeting. The councilman said Wednesday he will leave any further comments on Dollar General and Madsen Field for official city council meetings.
The next step for the proposed Dollar General project is rezoning the Madsen Field property to allow commercial business. The city's zoning board will have to meet and approve the rezoning.
A meeting has not been scheduled, but Mardesen said the board should meet within the next month.
Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com